[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today" a free woman. casey anthony will be sentenced on lesser charges after being acquitted of her daughter's killing. enough is enough. president obama calls lawmakers to the white house to talk about the debt ceiling, but will they all play nice? and grizzly mauling. yellowstone national park has its first deadly bear attack in nearly 25 years. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good morning to you. i'm veronica dela cruz. sfwlirchlgts casey anthony will learn her fate in a florida courtroom this morning when she's sentenced for lying to investigators. the only charges she was found guilty of in the murder trial of her daughter caylee. nbc's kristen dahlgren is in orlando for us this morning. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, veronica. yeah, casey anthony could be waking up in jail for the last time this morning. huge crowds respect expected here. the judge will decide how much longer she should spend behind bars. >> reporter: each of the four misdemeanor counts of lying to investigators carries the potential one-year sentence, but almost three years after casey anthony was first arrested judge perry could sentence her to time already served, a far cry from the death penalty anthony could have faced if convicted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. and far from what many who watched the case thought should

happen. but in an exclusive interview with abc news juror number three, jennifer ford, said they just didn't have enough proof it was murder. >> it doesn't feel good. it was a horrible decision to have to make, but i had to do it based on the law. >> reporter: casey's parents, george and cindy, were seen leaving they are house wednesday with a in jail in a defamiliaration lawsuit filed by zanida gonzalez, the woman with the same name as the fictional nanny she claimed kidnapped her daughter. >> as soon as i heard the verdict, my reaction was game on. >> reporter: even as anthony waits to learn when she'll go free, her legal troubles may not be over. while in the court of public opinion, she is so far not finding much sympathy. so that sentencing hearing set for 9:00 a.m. here this morning whenever casey anthony is released, the jail says it has a security plan in place,

veronica. >> kristen dahlgren in orlando. thank you. in washington the president doesn't appear to be backing down on his demand for some tax hikes even as republicans show signs of softening their stance ahead of bipartisan budget talks in the white house today. brian mooar has the latest. >> reporter: president obama was unusually blunt. he said that raising the debt ceiling should not be used as a gun against the heads of the american people. going into this meeting each side has firm demands, but already the path to a comp myself seems to be opening up. republicans are signalling that they may be willing to consider what has been a sticking point basically killing off some stacks loopholes. house majority leader eric cantor says he could be willing to consider that or at least talk about it in terms of the bigger compromise. congress has just a couple of weeks now to get that debt ceiling raised or risk running -- risk maxing out uncle

sam's credit card, and going into today's meeting there will be a lot of people in the room, but really this comes down to president obama and house speaker john boehner and their ability to sell any deal to members of their party. veronica. >> brian, thank you. tragedy struck at yellowstone national park whether a man hiking with his wife was mauled to death by a grizzly. the first fatal bear attack there in 20 years. park officials say the couple surprised the female grizzly who was apparently trying to defend her cubs. the man's wife told park rangers the bear picked her up by her backpack before dropping her on the ground. a group of hikers nearby heard the woman's call for help and used a cell phone to call 911. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. police in san francisco are hoping a snap shot of an unidentified man will shed some light on a brazen art heist. investigators believe this is the man who walked into a gallery and stole a pablo

picasso drawing in broad daylight. the artwork is valued at $200,000. a black bear stalled wednesday morning traffic on a virginia highway. the bear streaked across a few lanes before being cornered and shot with a tranquilizer gun. the 350 pound animal was transported to an area where it could be released into the wild. in colorado springs it has looked more like a wildlife refuge in recent weeks. sightings of bears and lions have been on the rise. wildlife officials have warned residents to be vigilant about keeping garbage and food away from the animals. finally, in quebec, canada, one lobster was captured looking as if it had already been cooked. most lobsters are green or brown, but this rare lobster was pulled from the ocean bright orange. because only one in ten million

are believed to be this color, the crustacean was given a stay of execution and donated to a local aquarium. now for a lock at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. if he wasn't cooked, why was he on ice? did you see that? >> i heard of some that are like a bluish-purple color, but i have never seen that. >> i have never teen season that either. crazy. good morning, everyone. let's take a look at what's happening out there around the country. today it is a very warm morning. we're in the midst of a mild summertime pattern, and the thunderstorms will fly once again this afternoon. we're at 78 in kansas city. we're at 83 in dallas to start your morning as you head out the door. on the eastern seaboard, very warm too. there's really no cool air in sight. we've had a big thunderstorm complex pushing down from nebraska overnight, and now it's set up over kansas. it's a good drenching rainfall. nothing too severe. it will cause delays on

interstate 70 going across kansas or i-35. just a big complex of wet weather. we'll have to see how much of this holds together by the time it gets to kansas city. if you are in topeka, have your umbrella ready. wichita also, some wet weather early today. as far as the forecast goes, i have my disclaimer up here. isolated afternoon thunderstorms. it looks a lot worse than it is, but for the most part everyone will be warm and a chance of a storm late today. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. once again, this looks a lot worse than it will be. most areas will only see a storm or two for maybe 20 or 30 minutes, but, again, the humidity is up. the temperatures are high. that's going to spark those afternoon showers and storms from the ohio valley to the mid-atlantic. the mid-atlantic is going to be the area of concern. looks like heavy rain. >> it looked like 75% of the map was covered. >> a lot of people with a chance of thunderstorms today.

just a chance, though. >> all right. a stock sinks on scandal and the politically correct company accused of not paying pc wages. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. zimplt plus, kim kardashian proved the public relations warning, never make a statement that could be taken out of context. >> coming up, gatorade, and a swing and a miss. you're watching "early today."

well, good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. there's a ban on openly gay members serving in the military. a stay had previously been issued as the policy made its way for the courts. the ruling merely hastens plans by pentagon officials to formally scrap the policy by the end of this month. in california authorities say three former pta mothers

recruited investors in a $14 million ponzi scheme. two have been arrested. one was already in jail. it's believed they spent some of the money on lavish vacations, new cars, and gambling. prince william and wife catharine took a detour from their official itinerary on their trip to canada yesterday to visit a town recently damaged by a wildfire. they met with workers and displaced residents. and a small town in albania unveiled a statue of former president george w. bush yesterday. it's to mark his 2007 visit there and also to thank the u.s. for its support. albanians credit the u.s. with ending their cold war isolation. now here's an early look at wall street. the dow opens at 12,626 after gaining 56 points yesterday. the s&p nudged up one. the nasdaq rose eight. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo the nikkei fell 1

points, but in hong kong the hang seng added 12. whether it was true market confidence or just light summer trading investors shrug off bad news wednesday, and wall street managed slight gains across the board. on the data front business growth on the service sector slowed in june. june marked the 19th consecutive month of growth in service companies, which employ the majority of americans. major banks fell sharply on fears of their exposure to possible bond defaults involving portugal. bank of america fell almost 2.5%. trunker conway and led the dow transportation average to an all-time closing high after restoring employee benefits due to the economy improving. compuware rose 5.5% after buying dynatrace. >> rupert murdock's news corp. owner of "news of the world"

with a scandal involving hacking phones was down almost 4% after several advertisers pulled ads in protest. the scandal could also short circuit a takeover of a hugely profitable pay tv firm. u.s. album sales grew in the first six months of the year from a year ago. the first gain in seven years. and today watch for weekly jobless claims and june's private employment report. finally, starbucks may be a corporate leader in pc marketing, but employees at outlets in chile plan to walk out today because they say wages are is low they can't afford lunch. albert returns. jeter counts down, and a crusher in women's soccer. plus, try as he might to avoid a face plant, mike stanton eats it. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. today will be another day with summertime showers and thunderstorms and more hot weather in texas.

your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

well, good morning. if are you just waking up, this is "early today." in sports wednesday the st. louis cardinals welcome back one of the greatest players from a brief injury absence. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports

headlines. good morning. if you woke up with aches and pains today, keep in mind the cardinal's albert pujols recovered from a broken forearm in two weeks, an astonishing two months ahead of schedule. keep in mind pujols makes $14.5 million a year, and that can make anyone feel great. an immediate impact. rbi single to the seventh. they tied in the ninth. however, they couldn't get over the hump. hernandez doubled in the go-ahead run to the 13th, and the reds hung on to win it 9-8. another game. another hit for derek jeter. doubled off the wall in the eighth. a bright spot for the yanks. they lost 5-3 to the indians. jeetser needs three more hits for 3,000 as the yanks head back to new york. a city in south korea was awarded the 2018 winter olympics. they've become the first asian city outside of japan to win the games. rough day for the u.s.

drive down the swedish forward in the box. that's a penalty kick. you won't miss too many of those. minutes later off a free kick the ball deflected into the net. forgetful day for her and the u.s. they'll play brazil on sunday. winner moves on. loser goes home. former marlin outfielder mike stanton is forecasted to be a future star. in florida he had his first career walk-off homer in the 10th against the phils. in his big interview after the game, here comes a gatorade. we now move again to the shaving cream. swing and a miss. he can't be that quick, can he? finally, fatigue set in. let me have it. mike stanton did his best, but in the end he still got creamed. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> narrator: early today sports is brought to you by touch of gray. get rid of some gray, never all. one star names her baby, and

reports an ex super couple has reunited. your entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, they're coming to america, but are they ready for hollywood? coming up, a not so prim and proper tribute to the royal couple. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this thursday morning. we are watching many areas of the country with a chance of isolated scattered shower or thunderstorm out there. not everyone is going to get

drenched. i think the greatest concentration is, of course, across kansas early today. later on this afternoon down here in the southeast and mid-atlantic we'll see a good area of showers and storms pop up. even florida too. for tomorrow that shuttle launch looks iffy right now with a lot of rain down there. may vm to delay that until the weekend. if you are watching us on wsls 10 in roanoke, virginia, see hollywood star cars at the virginia museum of transportation. the love bug, car from ghost busters, kit, knight rider. >> here's an early look at today's headlines in entertainment. the latest entry for strange hollywood baby names has a classical, but still a pretty weird ring to it. take a listen. natalie portman and her husband

benjamin have named their son alef. i don't know. >> that's hard -- >> it's the first letter of the hebrew alphabet and means the number one. >> justin timberlake and jennifer beal have been rekindling their romance. they decided to give love another try. all right. and this one sort of makes charlie sheen's new tv show will be based on the movie "anger management" and charlie will be playing the jack nicholson character. finally, talk about walking into one. although she means that she always feels she's on display, the jokes are already flying over kim kardashian's quote from her upcoming cosmopolitan cover story. she says, "sometimes i feel like a zoo animal." she did. which one do you think she means? >> probably not kirby the bear. she is probably hoping for something like a peacock or --

>> you know, between all the kardashian sisters, i think they make $65 million a year, so, you know, you live your life in a fishbowl. that's what she was talking about. >> she probably feels like she lives in a cage because everybody is always staring at her and taking pictures. >> we'll leave it there. exactly. from beverly hills in california where tinseltown is in a tizzy anticipating the arrival of prince william and catherine. is the royal couple ready for hollywood? their trip to the west coast has inspired one unique artistic expression, if you will. unveiled yesterday it features the newlyweds and a hovering angelic princess diana. the proceeds will go to three charities, including one chosen by the couple themselves. hmm. i'm veronica de la cruz, this is "early today," just your first stop of the day on your nbc station.

summertime in the city. 4:28 is our time. 75 degrees already. as you look at the hazy skies of washington, d.c. good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" for this thursday, july 7th. all eyes are on orlando for the final stage of the trial of the year. in just a few hours casey anthony will return to court for sentencing. a jury found anthony guilty on four misdemeanor counts of lying to investigators. they acquitted her on the more serious charges of murder, and child abuse in the death of her 2-year-old daughter caylee.

for the first time we are hearing from one of the jurors. she told abz how difficult the deliberation was. >> it doesn't feel good. it was a horrible decision to have to make. but i had to do it becauased on law. >> casey anthony faces up to a year in prison on each guilty verdict. but since she has already been in jail for three years, the judge could sentence her to time served, which means she could go free. extra security is in place, and there is a plan to get her out of court if that does happen. sentencing is set for 9:00 a.m. happening today, president obama will press congressional leaders to bend their demands over the debt. the president is meeting with top leaders of both parties at the white house this morning. according to "the washington post" the president will propose democrats accept major changes to social security and medicare. in exchange the president would ask republicans to budge on their no new taxes stance. the president is also pushing congress to reach a deal within two weeks on raising the nation's borrowing limit.

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